The entire point of this venture is to return comics back to something you can pick up casually, just for fun. DC is pairing its relaunch with making its entire line available digitally, including on the iPad. It’s also releasing a significant number of titles not fronted by white guys.

Will DC’s risky play to rejuvenate their readership by re-imagining their entire line of books be successful? Let’s see what this week’s salvo has in store, from my perspective as a relative DC neophyte.

While Batman and company have expanded into a Wolverine-like dominance of the new DC schedule, the big blue boy scout has been relegated to just a pair of solo titles. However, if there is going to be a single solo hit of the new 52, this could be it. Industry shaman Grant Morrison understands what makes superheroes tick, and the art team is solid. I’m in love the cover shot of Superman wearing his own branded t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and work boots. This is a must-read.

A schedule of all 52 debut issues due from DC Comics this month. Click through for a full-size version.

This month DC Comics is relaunching their entire line of comics – 52 issues #1s in a single month!

Not only is every series starting fresh, but the relaunch also represents a “soft reboot” of the DC comics universe. That means characters could have a new set of history as they re-debut, including breaking up iconic relationships or being suddenly de-aged back to a more-relatable 20-something.

I am not a DC comics fan, and have never been a regular reader of any of their titles aside than Wonder Woman – so why not try to read and review as many of their new 52 as I can in one month?

Sounds like a plan! The month starts with DC’s biggest gun – Justice League #1, with DC co-publisher and debateably best-penciler in the industry Jim Lee on art, and DC superstar Geoff Johns scripting.

CK Says: Consider it.

Justice League #1 is too quick a read with too little happening along the way.

I don’t mean to grade a comic merely on expectations, but when the words “Justice League” and “Jim Lee” are connected you can’t help but hope for something on the scale of 1991’s all-time best-seller X-Men #1.

Instead, we’re building up the origin of the Justice League from square one – and you could do a lot worse than that! I’d argue that the first issue of your flagship team should either introduce everyone, be a huge blowout, or do both. This sort of expository story belongs in the individual character books, or – at least – explored after you’ve got your hooks in new readers.

Marvel Comics is the purveyor of a mighty list of comic book heroes, including my favorites – The X-Men.

If you aren’t the comic-collecting type you might think your consumption of said heroes are limited to every kind of media but print. Not so! Marvel releases collected editions of almost every one of their newly released issues. These handy tomes make it easy to keep up with comics without being a issue-by-issue collector.

It’s a big week for X-collections, with my favorite X-book so far this year out in paperback! Plus, an overview of Marvel’s other new books for the week.

CK Says: Buy it! If you like X-Men and know who any one of Wolverine, Psylocke, Deadpool, or Fantomax are from other media, check out this book! It’s the best X-Men has been in the last two years. I read it three times consecutively when it first arrived in hardcover earlier this year.

New-to-X writer Rick Remender not only nails Wolverine and Fantomax and has a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of X-history, but writes the best Psylocke of all time. Seriously: ever. Meanwhile, artist Jerome Opena contributes some of the most lush interiors any X-book has seen in some time, with vivid, painterly colors.

The plot? Wolverine puts together a top-secret kill-squad to deal with the return of major villain Apocalypse. The team has to go through his deadly horseman to confront him, and they’re in for a surprise when they do – one that will cause them to rethink joining the team. (Available for just a few dollars more in hardcover)

CK Says: Buy it! It’s pretty rare to see a non-X-men recommendation at the top of my list, but this is a high quality comic. Fresh off of four volumes of incredible, must-read adventures, scripter Jonathan Hickman has transported Marvel’s first family to the top of the A-list of superheroes. Starting with Reed Richard’s compuction to solve all the world’s problems, the team was tipped on it’s ear – Reed saw his alternate-reality selves get slaughtered, Sue became a regent, Ben got to spend a day each month as a human, and Johnny had to defend the residents of the Baxter Building against certain death. All the while, four cities of otherworldly humanoids declared war on each other, and on the team!

And that’s just a fraction of the insanity of the past 20 issues! Time travel! Cloning! Death!

FF is the result of all of that action. It’s not short for “Fantastic Four,” but for “Future Foundation” – what Mr. Fantastic coins the collection of refugee super-geniuses currently living in the Baxter Building. That means the comic is no longer just about four people in blue spandex. First of all, now they’re in pristine white spandex. And Spider-Man is on the team. But the new heart of the book isn’t Mr. Parker. It’s an expanded supporting cast – the Future Foundation made up of a dozen interesting characters. My favorite is Reed & Sue’s preternaturally genius pre-schooler, Valeria, who occasionally hatches troublesome plots with her god-father, Dr. Doom.

CK Says: Buy it! X-Men Legacy has been on a roll since before Second Coming to present. Here Mike Carey detours from the angst of Utopia for a road trip to India with Rogue, Magneto, and a handful of former X-Men Academy students. Add to that Children of the Vault – the only quality X-Villains debuted in the past half decade (by Carey) – and you have an inessential-but-enjoyable four-issue arc that doesn’t require too much advance reading. That it includes beautiful, painterly covers with interiors penciled by outstanding fan-favorite artist Clay Mann only makes the read more fun. (Also available in hardcover)

Here’s a recap of the X-Men hardcover and trade paperback collected editions out this month so far, penned by the (only?) blogger who owns almost every X-issue that’s ever been republished! Plus, a quick look at Marvel’s other collected releases.

Whether you’re a major X-Fan or a casual reader, I’ll share my opinion on what’s worth buying, and recap the rest of the field. If you have any questions, just let me know – I’m happy to help. This is a supplement to my Definitive Guide to Collection X-Men in Graphic Novels, which tells you how you can buy any X-issue ever printed. Ever.

CK Says: Buy it! This hardcover debut of the 1990 “X-Tinction Agenda” crossover is as close as any single storyline collection gets to being an X-Men greatest hits collection. I already have my copy, and it is a thing of beauty.

Paired with the included classic four-issue introductory arc, X-Tinction Agenda features nearly every possible member of the X-Cast through 1990 with few exceptions (notably Xavier, Polaris, Madrox, Magik, Magma, and Mirage/Moonstar). Also, the creative team is untoppable – script by 80s essential X-writers Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson, art by all-time greats Marc Silvestri and Jim Lee – oh, and some guy named Rob Liefeld.

As for the story, it brings together the various X-Teams after over a half-a-decade apart while introducing the island of Genosha, where mutants are abundant – as a persecuted slave-race! This collection lays the groundwork for future X-stories, including Grant Morrison’s New X-Men and the recent blockbuster Second Coming.

Here’s a recap of the newest X-Men hardcover and trade paperback collected editions from the blogger who owns almost every one ever published! Let me tell you, that’s a lot of collected comics!

Since this is my first column, I’m going to recap new releases from the whole month of July. Whether you’re a major X-Fan or a casual reader, I’ll tell you what’s worth picking up. If you have any questions, just let me know – I own the vast majority of these books, and I’m happy to help.

Collection of the Month:Daken/X-23: Collision HCCollects Daken: Dark Wolverine #5-9, X-23 #7-9, and the Daken/X-23 story from Wolverine: Road to Hell.

CK Says: Buy it! This hardcover has some heft to it in both page count and story, and it doesn’t require a lot of prior knowledge to enjoy. It introduces Wolverine’s amoral, bisexual, illegitimate, villainous offspring Daken to the criminal underworld of Madripoor. Meanwhile, Wolverine’s increasingly-less amoral, teenage, female clone X-23 and her chaperone Gambit wind up on Madripoor’s shores as well, hunting a connection to the Weapon X program.

Links from Crushing Krisis to retailer websites may be in the form of affiliate links. If you purchase through an affiliate link I will receive a minor credit as your referrer. My credit does not affect your purchase price. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program (in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), eBay Partner Network, and iTunes Affiliate Program. Note that URLs including the "geni.us" domain name are affiliate short-links.